Pro-Russia Ukrainian hackers took down NATO websites on Saturday and Sunday in what is believed to be a response to the alliance's stance against Russian activity in the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
The activists used a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, which blasts chosen websites with so many requests that the site either crashes or moves too slowly to function. NATO had posted messages on its site stating that it did not approve of Sunday's Crimean referendum, a vote in which 93% of voters decided the Peninsula should become a part of Russia.
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Russian troops entered Crimea at the beginning of March, and since then tensions between that nation and Western countries have escalated. Russia believes its actions are protecting ethnic Russians in Crimea, an autonomous region of Ukraine, from supposed Ukrainian radicals that ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych, while Western nations, including the United States, believe the invasion and referendum are illegal.
A group of hacktivists called Cyber Berkut said the bombardment was carried out by Ukrainians upset by what they see as NATO meddling in their nation's affairs, according to a report from Reuters. The group, which is known to support Yanukovych, who is pro-Russia, has been implicated in the disruption of several Ukrainian websites over the past few weeks.
NATO's main site worked in fits and starts on Sunday, according to Reuters, but alliance spokesperson Oana Lungescu said it suffered no lasting damage.
DDoS attack on some #NATO sites ongoing but most services restored. Integrity of NATO data &systems not affected. We continue working on it
— Oana Lungescu (@NATOpress) March 16, 2014
Cyber Berkut has also been implicated in attacking some 40 Russian websites in recent weeks in what has been an escalating and increasingly confusing cyber war in response to Russia's invasion of Crimea.
The website of the peninsula's referendum was reportedly under a brief cyber attack on Saturday night as well, but was restored by Sunday.
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